Founded by George Barna in 1984, Barna Group has long aided the Church in understanding cultural trends related to values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Although much has changed in the field of social research since its beginning more than three decades ago, Barna has kept up with advances in technology and analytics, ensuring reliable data that faith leaders can use to understand the times.
A big part of Barna’s success in this field is due to our dedicated research team, now led by Brooke Hempell. In an effort to understand more about Barna’s research process and how the company’s approach to collecting data has evolved over the years, we interviewed Barna’s senior research manager, Pam Jacob, who has been with the company for 26 years. As our State of the Church project began to look back on decades’ worth of research, Pam reflected on her experiences collecting, analyzing and being impacted by that data.
Barna: When you first started at Barna Group, what was your role versus what it is now?
Pam: I was a part-time research assistant when I first started. I worked with the research manager and, believe it or not, it was just her and me in the research department, along with, of course, George Barna.
Barna: Looking back to your early years with the company, how was research conducted? Could you give me a brief overview from start to finish?
